


Lovers to friends to lovers?

by MementoIssy



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 15:01:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12111276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MementoIssy/pseuds/MementoIssy
Summary: They were high school sweethearts. They were friends. They were friends with benefits… could they be each other’s happy ending?





	Lovers to friends to lovers?

HIGH SCHOOL

It was Sunday when they finally had that dreaded conversation they have been avoiding all summer. But with only a few days left home they were bound to talk, to make things clear. Carmilla invited Laura over since her mother was never around and she had the house all to herself. They needed to talk without being interrupted.

“We are doing the right thing, right?” Laura asked, looking Carmilla in the eyes like she had all the answers in them.

“Yes cupcake, we are doing the right thing”, the brunette confirmed yet again in a brittle voice. “But it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt, that it won’t hurt. It just…”, Carmilla stopped, not being able to speak, her throat was closing.

“It would hurt us more if we did break up later”, Laura continued the sentence that the other girl couldn’t finish. Carmilla nodded, still trying to breathe properly. “Well being a grown up sucks!” Honey blonde finally admitted and hugged the other girl, “I love you, why can’t that be enough?”

They parted that day with a long kiss and a promise, that maybe, someday, when the distance and feelings don’t hurt so bad they’ll talk, text, keep in touch. 

But somehow getting over that kind of love, that first, innocent kind of love was not easy, months blended into years and years, until it was too late for texts, chats or keeping in touch.

+

Wednesday nights at the coffee place were usually not busy nights, so Carmilla would get a coffee and enjoy some new book that she bought.

She was about to go and order another coffee and maybe something to eat when she bumped into somebody. “Excuse me”, she murmured, not paying attention to a person she bumped into.

“Carm”, a surprised voice said, making the brunette stop and turn around.

In front of Carmilla stood Laura, looking almost the same like all those years ago, “Laura”, is all she managed to say before the honey blonde pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

When they pulled apart, both girls just stared at each other, Laura, except the more serious clothes almost looked the same, she even had the same long, dirty blonde hair, that still smelled like something sweet. Carmilla on the other hand was not all covered in leather and black clothes, her makeup was lighter, still in dark colors, but applied differently, it portrayed a different, more mature style.

“Hey”, Laura offered with a smile on her face.

“It’s been a long time”, Carmilla stated still intensely looking at the other girl, like she is not real, like she could disappear any moment. “You look good”, she whispered.

“So do you”, the blonde added shyly, and then they were both quiet again, just staring at one another. After so many years they met, accidentally, unplanned, unprepared.

 “How are you?”, Carmilla asked.

“Good, I’m good, you?”, honey blonde felt like she can’t speak properly for some reason. 

“I’m good too…”, Carmilla smiled, trying to break this weird staring contest they entered, “ ... this is weird, why is this weird?”, she asked, waving the finger between them.

Laura shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know, should it be NOT weird?”

“I don’t know”, the brunette admitted, “want to have a drink with me and talk it through?”

“Sure”, the dirty blonde said, “lead the way”.

“Don’t you have friends you should go back to?”, Carmilla asked, noticing the group of gingers watching their interaction.

“I’ll text them. They’ll understand.”

“Okay cupcake, this way”, Carmilla said and slowly guided Laura to her table.

A few hours later and a couple of “ _you are a professor? Really? Like teaching people, willingly spending time in the same room as them?_ ” or “ _papa Hollis still hates your ability to get in trouble? Your cookie obsession hasn’t changed_ ”, they exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet up again, not wanting to lose each other again for this long.  

+

**(7) Unread messages**

“What the Hell”, Laura huffed looking at her phone.

**Danny (9:23):** Hey wanna watch a movie tonight?

**Danny (9:33):** You were not answering my texts so I called LaF, they said you bumped into somebody?

**Danny (9:41):** Give me a call when you get this

Laura rolled her eyes reading this, it was so typically Danny to get overprotective all the time. But the texts lately were getting out of hands, she was constantly bugging Laura for not answering fast enough or answering at all even when the blonde was working.

**Danny (10:03):** Are you even getting my texts?

**Danny (10:09):** Laura

She noticed Carmilla’s name between all the texts from her slightly paranoid girlfriend.

**Carmilla (10:11):** Had a lovely time tonight cupcake. How about a coffee tomorrow after work?

Laura typed a quick, “ _sure Carm, I get off around 3pm. Pick you up at the University?”,_ the brunette answered “ _see you then cutie_ ”.  

**Danny (10:11):**   CALL ME!!!

 The last one really pissed Laura off, “who does she think she is. Screaming at me trough the text”, she mumbled while waiting for the ginger to pick up.   

“Laura”, came from the other side of the phone.

“Do not use caps on me Danny!”, Laura surprised herself with how harsh her voice sounded in that sentence.  “I’m not a child, you don’t have to check up on me, or call my friends to see where I am every 5 minutes!”

“You were not answering my texts, what was I suppose to do?”, Danny spat.

“Wait for me to call you? I have an important job, I might have been in the middle of the interview for all you know.”

“But you weren’t!”

“Still! I could have been”, Laura stated strongly.

“Whatever Laura. Who were you with anyways?”, Danny softened her voice a little.

“I bumped into somebody from my high school days.”

“Do I know about them?”, the other girl asked, making Laura roll her eyes.

“Just from the stories I told you. It was Carmilla”, the blonde stopped for a second, “I bumped into Carmilla”. 

“Carmilla? As in your ex girlfriend Carmilla?”, Danny was now getting angry, she hated when the other girl talked about her ex, “ _the perfect, all mysterious and rebellious, the one that got away Carmilla_ ”.

“Yeah, her. She was grabbing coffee, I was not looking where I was going and I ran into her”, Laura explained oblivious to Danny’s mood change.

“Did you tell her about me?”, the redhead asked, instantly irritating the other girl.   

“I didn’t have to, I had my collar on that said property of Danny Lawrence! What’s wrong with you today?”, Laura snapped.

“You didn’t answer my question Laura.”

“And I won’t, cause its unnecessary and insulting. You don’t trust me all of a sudden?”, she huffed.

“Fine! Turn this on me! I’m gonna go and take a walk! You are frustrating me right now!”, Danny almost yelled.

“FINE!”, Laura screamed and hang up.

+

**Laura (3:02):** I’m waiting for you on a bench in front of the main entrance. You will recognize me by the huge paper bag of cookies that I have

**Carmilla (3:03):** I’ll be there in a minute

                         And cupcake I would recognize you anywhere

They walked around the campus just talking about the years they spend apart, about home, family, work.  

They were eating the last of Laura’s cookies, just sitting on a bench in a quiet part of the campus when the blonde said, “I can see us being best friends Carm. I didn’t realize that I missed you so, so much”.

“Me too cupcake, me too.”

+

Danny showed up at Laura’s door that night, apologized and promised to try harder to be more relaxed and to stop treating Laura like an infant. They talked about their work days, and everything was going okay until Laura mentioned her taking a walk with Carmilla.

“You went out with her again?”, Danny asked a little bit confused.

“Yeah, we took a walk around a university campus, had a lovely chat”, the blonde was again oblivious to her girlfriend’s mood change.

“You must have a lot of catching up to do. Maybe you will see each other again in the future”, the ginger said trying not to sound jealous. 

“Oh, we are meeting up this Saturday”, Laura chimed, not noticing Danny frown.

+

Four months passed since Laura and Carmilla started hanging out, and Laura didn’t neglect her friends or her girlfriend, but Danny still felt left out of a part of other girl’s life. They bickered more often, Danny asked all kinds of weird and needless questions about Laura’s friendship with Carmilla. After a while all pent up frustrations, jealousy and anger rose up to the surface.

“This is about you and… and that mistress of the snark”, Danny barked.   

“Her name is CARMILLA! And NO, it doesn’t have anything to do with her”, Laura sneered.

“YES IT DOES!”, Danny yelled, “it does Laura…”, she repeated, this time softer, “since she came into your life you are different”.

“I have a friend that is only my friend and you make a big deal out of it… Jesus, Danny! We went for a walk and you called me 5 times…”, Laura pointed out, clearly angry.  

“Don’t you see that’s all her fault”, Danny declared.  

“This has nothing to do with her. You don’t trust me. You think you need to protect me… Oh poor Laura…”, the blonde mocked.

“You expect me to believe that nothing is going on between the two of you?! She was, and is your first everything Laura!!!”

“And she will always be”, Laura admitted quietly, “you can’t change that, and frankly, I would never…”, she stopped for a moment, thinking, anger boiling in her insides, when she suddenly got up and took her bag and firmly stated, “we are done here”, she walked away from Danny’s apartment leaving the other girl silent.    

+

Laura was angry for a few days, angry at herself, angry at Danny, angry at their relationship and how it changed. She knew she had to talk to the other girl, clear the air between them, after two years she owed to them both the clean break up. Danny was not only her girlfriend, she was a friend, and Laura cared about her deeply, even though they were fighting and disagreeing.

**Laura (5:24):** Can we talk?

**Danny (5:30):** Sure, when?

**Laura (5:32):** In an hour? I’ll be at the park next to your building

**Danny (5:33):** I’ll be there

There was an awkward silence hanging between them while they looked for a place to sit and talk.

“I wanted to clear the air between us”, Laura was the first one to speak, looking at Danny, carefully watching her reaction, the tall girl just nodded. “We were friends before… we could try that again… I just don’t see us as a couple anymore”, she felt like such a cliché saying those words.

Danny chuckled bitterly, “so that’s it? You are just going to leave everything behind? And for what? For her?”

“Danny not this again. This has nothing to do with Carmilla…”, the blonde stated clearly every word.

“Sure it has nothing to do with her”, the ginger said and stood up, “I’m going to make it really easy for you Laura”, with that she walked away, leaving deeply shaken up Laura behind.   

+

It took some time, but Laura finally stopped missing Danny. She decided that their relationship will be another mastered lesson, she still hasn’t decided what she learned, but she will look at their time together as something positive.

Her friends were supportive and understanding, but they kept bugging her that she needs to go out, have fun, and meet new people.

“I don’t want to go out Carmmmmmm”, Laura whined and slumped down on a couch.

“This is a third week that you are skipping clubbing cupcake, should I be worried?”, the brunette’s voice teased over the phone.

“Don’t worry about me, I have a Netflix account and hot cocoa to keep me company tonight.”

“That’s depressing sweetheart”, Carmilla teased, “but whatever floats your boat, at least I tried to get you out”.

“You did”, Laura admitted with a smile on her face, “I’ll call you tomorrow so you could tell me all about the night of drinks and girls”.

“Sure, cupcake, sure… enjoy yourself”.

+

Laura has been already in her PJs, surrounded by snacks and drinks when somebody knocked on her front door. She slowly got up, thinking that it was Mrs. Scott, her next door neighbor asking for some kind of help, instead she encountered dark eyes of her best friend.

“Hey”, Laura said, confused, “what are you doing here?”

“Not happy to see me sweetheart?”, Carmilla said entering the apartment, “I was craving a night in with my favorite person, so I’m here”, she pointed out, “and I brought cookies”. 

“You really love me”, Laura said enthusiastically.

“So, why are you refusing to go out with me and the ginger squad? Is it me or them you don’t like?”, Carmilla teased.

“It’s not you … it’s just”, Laura huffed, “LaF said something about new girlfriend, even a casual hook up”, she blushed a little, “and I can’t, I don’t have the patience for that”.

“The sex?”, the brunette teased.

“No! The part before the sex, like hello, what’s your favorite show? Do you like cats or dogs? Summer or winter? Those get to know another person conversations, is there a way I could just skip those?”

“You can try one night stands cutie. They worked for so many people.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but I need to know that other person at least a little bit so I could actually enjoy the sex part, which brings me to the beginning of my problem”, Laura explained.

“So you need a friends with benefits type of relationship?”, Carmilla offered.

Laura’s eyes lighted up on that suggestion, she jumped of off the couch and looked straight into the other girl, “you should be my friend with benefits”.

The brunette tilted her head, looking at the enthusiastic girl with a confusion written all over her face, “you do know that friends with benefits entails us having sex, right?”

Laura rolled her eyes, “think about it, I know you, I’m comfortable with you and the best part is that we already slept together so it won’t be a nerve-racking experience. And after all you are an adult, and I am an adult and we seem to be enjoying each other’s company”.

Sitting up and with a serious face the other girl stopped to think about it before replying, “you are right, oh, there’s definite enjoyment”, Carmilla declared.   

“So, I’m thinking that maybe we could just…”, Laura waved her hands trying to gesture the things she couldn’t put into words, “you know… continue that enjoyment and add the benefits…”, she made a long pause after that, “you know as long as we don’t get doomed and star crossed about it, we’ll be fine. We’ll keep it casual”.

“Light”, Carmilla said, reaching for the other girl’s hand and slowly pulling her down on her lap.

“Very light”, Laura mumbled, her eyes switching between Carmilla’s eyes and lips.

“So theoretically, if we wanted to have a little fun right now…”, the brunette tugged the other girl down so she was now straddling her.

“We could definitely do that.  No reason we can’t have fun whenever we like…”, with that Laura closed the distance between them. It was a slow kiss at the beginning, tender and timid, but when  one of Carmilla’s hands got into Laura’s hair and the other went under her shirt gently scraping the exposed skin, and her teeth automatically sank into Laura’s lip the dynamic changed. They turned into a hot mess of hands, legs and lips, kisses, bites and scratches. Soon all that could be heard in the room were soft moans and grunts coming from both girls.       

Laura took off her sweater and shirt in one swift motion, leaving herself completely exposed to the mercy of Carmilla’s mouth. “God, Carmmmm… I …”, she tried to compose a sentence, but the brunette slowly sucked her nipple and made her lose all ability to talk.

“Did you say something cupcake?”, Carmilla smugly asked, “I didn’t hear you through all the moaning”.

“Mo… more, Carmilla, more”, the blonde panted.    

Carmilla suddenly stopped and looked Laura in the eyes, she slipped a hand into Laura’s shorts and they both gasped at the first contact. Laura closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of Carmilla’s fingers slowly circling her clit.

“Breathe Laura”, the brunette said before laying the other girl on the couch and pulling her shorts off.

+

Nothing really changed in their relationship since then, they still talked every day, texted, watched movies, walked around town, except every now and then they gave each other orgasms.

It was a Friday night when they went dancing, they actually went dancing. Carmilla and the ginger twins convinced Laura that the new club downtown is a place to be tonight. And after a few shots and some more inappropriate touches under the table Laura was ready to rip brunette’s clothes off in a cab on their way to Carmilla’s place.

They stumbled into her apartment, falling on the couch in the living room. The brunette’s hands were in Laura’s back pockets keeping the other girl tightly pressed on her thigh. They kissed messily, fighting for dominance and Carmilla kept pulling Laura as close as physically possible.

The blonde moved her hips, slowly grinding on Carmilla’s leg, she didn’t realize how turned on she actually was until a very familiar feeling washed over her leaving her breathless.

“Oh, my God… did I just…”, Laura tried to finish her sentence between deep breaths.

“I’m just that good cutie”, Carmilla replied with a smug smile on her face.

Feeling embarrassed for some reason Laura buried her head in the brunette’s shoulder, “you are just so full of yourself”, she mumbled.

“It’s not every day that a beautiful girl comes in her pants while kissing me”, Carmilla teased, “it’s flattering, don’t be embarrassed”, she said and gently kissed the top of blonde’s hair. “Do you remember how we met”, she asked, changing the subject, trying to make Laura feel comfortable again. The other girl just nodded, her head still pressed to Carmilla’s shoulder. “I remember it like it was yesterday”, the brunette smiled at the memory, “you were so cute, all wrapped up in a debate. That bunched up face you made whenever you were angry was hilarious, come to think of if you still make it…”, she added, “I’ve never noticed you before that day, I still don’t understand how that’s possible, you were radiant, cheerful, and unbelievably beautiful inside out”, she finished and kept on drawing random patterns on Laura’s back.    

Laura blushed, but looked up and whined, “Carmmm… I was, how did you call me prissy little overachiever”.

“That’s a compliment cutie”, Carmilla replied smugly. They fell asleep on a couch, tangled in each other.   

+

It’s not like they fell into a relationship, Carmilla still went out on dates, and they all still tried to make Laura go on dates. It became a competition between LaFontaine and Carmilla, “ _the get the nerd a new girlfriend_ ”, as they called it. But the one that actually managed to persuade the blonde to go on a date was Perry, using her motherly nagging and politely chosen words.  

**Cupcake (9:23):** What are you doing?

**Carm (9:25):** Grading some papers… how’s the date going?

**Cupcake (9:26):** Over… headed home

**Carm (9:28):** That must be a new record cupcake…

            Want to come over?

**Cupcake (9:30):** I would love to come over

            You sure I won’t disturb you?

**Carm (9:31):** You can never disturb anything

            Bring some food, I only have fruit and we all know how you feel about that

**Cupcake (9:33):** See you in 30 minutes. I’m bringing Chinese 

Laura was right on time and with a big bag of food in her hands. She was smiling when she greeted Carmilla, untypical for somebody who by the sound of it had a bad date. The blonde maneuvered around Carmilla’s kitchen like it was her own, taking the food out of the containers and putting it on plates. Carmilla relaxed and leaned on the counter, just watching the other girl.

“So what happened?”, the brunette finally asked when they finished eating.

”Nothing”, Laura just shrugged, getting an appointed look from the other girl. “She was okay I guess… just…”, the blonde groaned, “I hate dating… I really do. And what’s up with the statements like, oh journalism, I bet it’s nice to talk to famous people and stand in front of the camera! Is that really what people think we do?”, Laura asked tautly.   

“Yeah, people suck”, Carmilla added.

“That’s all you have to say?”, Laura chuckled, “you suck at this cheering up thing”.  

“I could cheer you up using a different method”, Carmilla wiggled her eyebrows and slowly pulled Laura by the loops on her jeans.   

“Yeah?”

“Mhm”, she mumbled kissing the blonde passionately. Carmilla’s hands skillfully removed the Laura’s shirt and popped a button on her jeans. They were walking towards the bedroom without breaking a kiss, leaving the path of discharged clothes all around. 

+

LaFontaine caught up with what they were doing pretty fast, but it took Perry a while to put two and two together, but they seemed okay with whatever Carmilla and Laura were at the moment. They didn’t ask questions, they didn’t snoop around the subject, but they did lay off of setting up dates for Laura.

Weeks turned to months and soon enough they realized they were doing this for a long time. Carmilla didn’t mind, neither did Laura.

They were at Laura’s place, Carmilla grading some papers while Laura was researching the internet for a story, when a phone rang.

“Laura speaking”, the journalist said in a formal voice. The conversation didn’t interest Carmilla, people called Laura all the time, if not from the office, then she got calls from people she wrote about or interviewed.

“Thank you, Sir, I’ll let you know as soon as possible”, she finished, gazing at Carmilla who was face deep in the papers. “That was a… a professor Vordenberg”, she made a pause until Carmilla looked at her.

 “Are you okay cupcake? What did the Vordenberg guy want?”, she asked, shifting her attention entirely on the other girl.

“To offer me a job. A teaching job”, Laura stated.

“A teaching job cupcake? Well congrats! Are we  going to be colleagues?”, she joked and quickly pulled Laura into a big, warm hug.

“The job is not here”, Laura mumbled while pressed into Carmilla’s body, she slowly pulled away just enough to look at Carmilla’s eyes, “I’ll have to move if I take it”, she finally declared.  

Carmilla just looked at her, feeling the slight déjà vu, “ohh… well still, congrats cupcake”, she forced herself to sound happy, even though her insides were starting to hurt.

“I still haven’t decided if I’m going to take it Carm, I have until my birthday to decide”, Laura stated, receiving a nod from Carmilla.

They both returned to things they were doing before the call, one thinking about the things she would lose and other thinking about new opportunities.

+

Carmilla hated big family gatherings and birthday celebration that was thrown by the Hollis family was just that, one big, loud, too bright and too optimistic party. But it was Laura’s birthday, she had to be there, so she would have to suffer through it.

As she expected there was a lot of hugging, talking, but Laura looked so happy immersed in a debate about eco terrorism and volunteerism, so that made Carmilla happy. She was too wrapped up in the sight of the other girl that she didn’t notice Sherman slowly sitting next to her.

“How are you holding there broody?”, he bumped her shoulder, pulling her out of a daze.

“Not you too”, she huffed, “I’m not broody, I’m mysterious, dark, rebel”, Carmilla said with a smile on her face. She and the older Hollis had unorthodox relationship, she admired his dedication as a parent, he acknowledged and appreciated her love for Laura. They grew to respect each other.

“Sure grumpy, sure”, he chuckled.

 “They put you up to this, didn’t they?”, she said, tilting her head in LaF’s direction.

“They have nothing to do with it, you were just too far away in your dream Laura land so I took upon myself to get you back down to Earth”, Sherman teased and before Carmilla could defend herself he continued talking. “I really didn’t like you when you started dating my daughter. I thought that you are a trouble. You had that luxury of being so blasé about everything. I bet you thought I was ridiculous with that sex, drugs and rock n roll attitude you had. And me with a one mission to keep her safe”, they both chuckled.

“Still dislike me Sir? I’m not dating your daughter now”, Carmilla pointed out in a light tone.

He shook his head, “do you remember when Laura was at the hospital? She had her tonsils removed and that night even I went home to sleep, but you never left her side. You were in that hospital chair until they let her go home. I never doubted your love, but in that moment I realized that your dedication to my daughter goes beyond that label high school sweethearts, it was not infatuation, it was true love. That’s when I stopped disliking you.”

Carmilla just nodded, not knowing what to say to Sherman’s words. She searched once again for the familiar face of Laura Hollis but there were too many people in the backyard.

“I know about the job offer. It was me that suggested it in the first place”, he admitted. “I always wanted only the best for her, and teaching journalism seemed like a safe thing, something that could keep her happy and still let her talk about it”. Carmilla kept being silent but nodded along Sherman’s words, letting him know that she was paying attention.

“And I knew it was far away, but she would have a comfortable life, without running around looking for a story, without a hectic work hours… You know that you make her happy?”, he asked all of a sudden.

“I don’t think that’s me”, Carmilla responded honestly, “she is just a happy person, you should know that”.

“She is. You know she was happy after you two broke up, I didn’t think that was possible for a while. But she was happy with Danny, but with you, with you, it’s a different kind of happiness… Think about it kiddo”, he gave her a sad smile and walked into the crowd of people.

Carmilla thought about Sherman’s words, what he wanted to say, was it possible that he wanted Laura to stay, that he was asking Carmilla to tell her to stay. She shook her head, no, Carmilla was just a friend, she didn’t have the right to say anything to Laura. To ask anything from her.

“You seem happy”, Laura chimed, snapping the brunette out of her gloomy state.

“You Hollis people need to stop sneaking on other people”, she teased.

“Sneaking? I walked towards you, but you were deep in your thoughts that you haven’t even registered me”, Laura explained, “where did you go?”

“Oh you know me, I’m broody like that”, Carmilla deflected, not really wanting to answer the question but not wanting to lie to Laura.

“Carmmmm…”

The brunette huffed, “fine, I was thinking about you leaving”, she admitted sadly.

“I still haven’t decided”, Laura admitted softly, “and shouldn’t I be happy about an opportunity like that? But all I’m thinking is that I’m leaving people behind, leaving my dad, LaF, Perry… you”, she looked at Carmilla and took her hand. “It feels like I’m leaving you again Carm”, she almost whispered.

“What do you want me to say”, Carmilla asked caught off guard by the sad sound of Laura’s voice.

“Well, we are friends, so I can ask you for advice. What do you think I should do?”, Laura urged words out of her mouth.

Carmilla just sat there for a moment, with a lost look in her eyes, she thought about the girl next to her, the girl that meant so much, and the girl that was not hers. “I think you should go”, she finally offered.

“What?”, asked surprised Laura.

“You asked for my advice, that’s my advice cupcake”, the brunette said, “you are meant to do great things Laura Hollis, and the world deserves to see the best of you. Don’t let doubts about leaving this place stop you from that. All of us are very proud of you”, she said calmly, looking Laura in the eyes, trying to hide the hurt she was feeling. But this was Carmilla’s way of letting go, she knew that it would hurt more if she resisted, if she tried to convince Laura to stay.

“Okay, I’ll call them tonight to tell them my decision”, birthday girl said.

“We should celebrate, cupcake. But firstly go find your dad and tell him what you decided. I’m sure he would like to know”, Carmilla said, trying to make Laura leave for a while, until she gets a hold of her emotions.

 Laura just nodded, “okay, I’ll see you later Carm…”, she almost skipped away towards the crowd of people, leaving the brunette alone with her thoughts.

The party was at its end, people were starting to leave, and Perry was franticly cleaning up, from Carmilla’s point of view it seemed like she is having fun. The brunette stayed on the porch, with a beer bottle in her hand, she sipped slowly, not wanting to get drunk.

Laura walked towards her, but this time Carmilla saw her, followed her form as it slowly approached.

“I’m going to leave soon creampuff. I have school tomorrow”, she said with a small smile on her face. “Call me tomorrow? I want to know how the phone call went”.

Laura just nodded, “are you sure you can walk home”, she asked, eyes fixated on a beer in Carmilla’s hands.

“Don’t worry about me, had just one beer in a last hour. I’ll talk to you tomorrow”, and with that Carmilla stood up, hugged Laura and slowly walked away from Hollis’s home.

+

 “Guess I just never really imagined it ending this way”, Laura admitted while looking at her phone.

“How did you imagine it ending sweetheart?”, Sherman slowly sat next to his daughter.

Laura just shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know. The smart thing to do would be to leave, right?”, she asked, not really looking for an answer, “except, I guess I thought I’ll buy an apartment, get to be an editor one day, and go to the Comic Con with a girl I love… All those silly things I dreamed of since I was a teen…”, she stopped talking for a moment, and images of Carmilla and her, just being together overfilled her mind, her eyes started to tear up.

“Hey, hey… Laura sweetie, breathe…”, Sherman tried to calm her down, “you haven’t done anything yet. There’s still time for you to change your mind”

 “She told me to leave”, the girl said.

“Who did?”

“Carmilla… I asked, hoping that she would tell me to stay… to stay with her… but she told me to leave”, Laura finally admitted through tears.

“Maybe she thought she doesn’t have the right to tell you to stay”, he offered. “Maybe she just wants you to be happy”.

“I have to talk to her before I do this…”, Laura sniffled while getting up and looking for a tissue.

“I’ll call you a cab”, Sherman said.

+

Banging on the front door startled Carmilla, she slowly approached the door and looked to see who is disturbing her in this ungodly hours. It was Laura that pounded angrily at the door, eyes red, with the same clothes she was wearing at the party. The brunette opened the door fast thinking something bad happened.

“Laura! What’s going on?”

“You told me to leave!”, upset blonde said. “You told me to take the job and… and leave…”, she was now pacing trough the living room. “We are friends Carm”.

“Yes, we are friends”, confused Carmilla repeated and closed the front door.

“Friends. You know, people who care when their callous attitude hurts the other one’s feelings”, pacing blonde stated.

“What are you… Wait, is this because I wanted you to leave?”, the brunette asked.

“Yes! Do you know how that felt after everything?”, Laura now stopped and looked at Carmilla.

“Well, what did you want me to say Laura?”, Carmilla sounded broken, “I don’t have the right to ask you to stay. I’m your friend, as you say, it’s my duty to support you”.  

Laura just stared at the other girl, not really knowing how to put in words what they really were, their relationship, feelings they had. Because there were feelings, that was clear, but choosing to speak about them was something completely different. Putting a label on whatever they were could ruin them.

Carmilla realizing Laura was speechless chuckled, “Cupcake I have never seen you lost for words like this…”, she had to break the seriousness between them, “we’ve been doing this for a while now, you know… until today I never thought about labeling it. Until today I never thought that we need to… ”, she took Laura’s hands in hers, trying to ground herself before saying the next words. “I love you Laura and I really hoped that this time it would be enough”.

Laura cleared her throat, swallowing the lump that formed there, being this close to Carmilla, hearing her say those words made her realize that life is not that complicated, that it doesn’t have to be. All she has to do is speak up, speak up right now, “I love you too Carm, love you so, so much”. With that, she slowly leaned and kissed the brunette.

Carmilla smiled into their kiss, “does this mean that I get to move across the country with you?”

“Well no, cause I’m staying right here”, Laura offered, receiving a confused look from Carmilla. “Here I have everything I ever wanted for myself…”, she kissed Carmilla again, “well, almost everything… we need to go to the Comic Con next month”.

“Wha…”, Carmilla wanted to ask, but got interrupted with another kiss.

“I’ll explain later, keep on kissing me now”, the blonde playfully ordered.

 

 


End file.
